Sewer Line

[mamajo]

Bless you. I hope things look up. This last year has been an black hole of financial woes for us too. Clutch replaced, tires, then our sewer lateral had to be replaced. Loan for three years to handle it all. I feel your pain. God Bless and hope things start looking up for you all.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Bless you. I hope things look up. This last year has been an black hole of financial woes for us too. Clutch replaced, tires, then our sewer lateral had to be replaced. Loan for three years to handle it all. I feel your pain. God Bless and hope things start looking up for you all.

Thanks so much. I am sorry for the tough year you have had also. My heart really goes out to everyone who has been hard hit by the economy with loss of jobs. With the huge increases in gas and food transportation prices are just taking money out of everyones pockets. Unemployed people too. So money for repairs and surprise expense are hard to find.

 

[seashoreCM]

Did they succeed in clearing out the tree roots just this once?

If so, you should try foaming drain cleaner meant for the main pipe exiting the house (the sewer lateral). See if you can get the industrial grade kind, one brand is Rootx, you should use two pounds at a time. It works better if there is a cleanout you can introduce it into rather than flushing it down a toilet.

Not fun but you may get by for awhile putting toilet paper in a trash bag rather than flushing even that down the toilet.

 

[Shagley]

I also wanted to just add a suggestion to your plan to watch the volume...also make sure that nothing gets flushed down except for t.p. - flushable wipes, feminine products, etc. can get hung up and cause clogs. Also try to teach your family not to use large wads of t.p. Sorry to be icky, but I know the pain you're going through, so anything that can help kick the expense into the future can be helpful!

I second this. Also, make sure you are not using Charmin Ultra Strong toilet tissue. That stuff always clogs our pipes. It took us 3 times in a year of calling out Roto Rooter to realize that it was the Charmin Ultra Strong TP that was clogging our pipes. It is just too thick for our pipes to handle.

 

[wallawallakids]

Omg I am getting a few other opinions. Did you have to pay for those estimates? All of the tree roots are in the street, I wonder if its the townships responsibility? Thankyou

We had to replace our sewer line this year. All I can say is shop around...but also check references. We had a little more time than you so we were able to play hardball until someone gave us a price we felt was "reasonable" If you can call $7,800 reasonable. But at first it was over 10. So I was happy with it in the end. We didn't have issues with a tree, but we did have a leaking pipe into our yard. Our home was built in 1910....the sewer line was beyond old and the cast iron pipe rotted leaving a nice big hole in the middle. We ended up having to replace the entire line from the house to the street. That meant concrete work, which was our largest part of the expense.
I am sorry you are going through all this. I feel for you. Hope things get better for you soon.

 

[rock_doctor]

The problem is, you are on the main line...that accounts for a nice bump in price when you need something fixed. The water heater you can absolutely do yourself. I saw an episode of "this old house" they reamed out the old main sewer line (cut the roots and pulled them out of the pipe) and then pumped a plastic or something into the old clay pipe to act as a liner. You probably have cast iron but i would start doing some research. When it rains it pours...

 

[runwad]

I second the toilet paper. We only use 1 ply in this house. We had to have 6ft of our pipe replaced because of tree roots. It was fine for 12 years then started backing up again. Had roto rotor come out and snake the drain, then one of the guys told me that our natural gas supplier has an insurance prorgam that covers sewer line replacement. It costs me 3.50/mo for the insurance and this would cover a new line plus landscaping. I also am able to call and get the main drain snaked when it starts to clog. I can tell cause the wash water will start to come up the drain. That's my clue that the main has a clog, call and get it snaked free with the insurance and no messy back up. Since we've switched to only using 1 ply tp I've went over a year without a snake. But I do have large trees in my front yard that shade my house and I don't want to cut them down. Eventually the line will need replaced and I'll use the insurance. Oh they won't replace the line until it backs up 3 or 4 times in 1 year, that's what the guy told me. Anywho something else for you to check out. Good luck, it's the pits I know :-(

 

[englishteacha]

Wow. We have a septic system and I'd always thought town sewer was pretty much maintenance free. Guess not!

You need a new water heater, OP, too? We replaced ours for $400ish. It's a 50 gallon electric one from Home Depot. A local handyman put in a new thermostat in the old one for us a few years ago, which was wonderful. It bought us time with the old water heater. Unfortunately, it sprung a leak, so we needed to fully replace it this time. We're lucky that the handyman can often fix things rather than having to replace them. DH is handy, but when it's beyond his abilities (and what he can find online!), we are glad to have someone affordable to call.

 

[disneymomjcs]

We have our sewer line cleaned out every fall at a cost of $125, and flush the root killer twice a year, spring and fall ($48/year in chemicals). That is enough to keep our system running smoothly. As long as this keeps working we'll put off replacing the sewer line. We have a shorter run that needs to be replaced, about 40' in all with just the 15' closest to the street in bad shape, but we could keep doing what we're doing for decades without it adding up to the cost of replacing the line.

Wow that sounds like a good plan. I am just hoping that our clean out continues to work. It has been fine since Monday. Prayers and need to work on other estimates still.

 

[disneymomjcs]

We have an easy-to-access clean out in our unfinished basement, which helps to keep the price down. All the plumber has to do is pull the van up by the back door and pull the rooter thing down the stairs. It doesn't usually take even a full hour. The first time cost more because it was badly blocked and took longer, but now it is just a matter of maintenance so it is a relatively quick/easy clean out of partially blocked pipes.

I'm going to check into the liner idea myself. I've never heard of that before but depending on the pricing it seems like it would be a good option for a lasting solution. Our pipes are intact and all the problems come at the joints in the clay section outside of the house so it sounds ideal for our situation.

I have gotten more information on the boards and ideas for solutions. The Plumber just gave me replace the pipes or add an access. I am so glad I can get information from people who are in the same boat!

 

[disneymomjcs]

The problem is, you are on the main line...that accounts for a nice bump in price when you need something fixed. The water heater you can absolutely do yourself. I saw an episode of "this old house" they reamed out the old main sewer line (cut the roots and pulled them out of the pipe) and then pumped a plastic or something into the old clay pipe to act as a liner. You probably have cast iron but i would start doing some research. When it rains it pours...

Odd thing is sounds like our pipes are great to the sidewalk its all the pipe under the street that has the tree roots. We have cast iron under the house and five foot out. Then the clay pipe... Agreed, when it rains its pours.......

 

[disneymomjcs]

Did they succeed in clearing out the tree roots just this once?

If so, you should try foaming drain cleaner meant for the main pipe exiting the house (the sewer lateral). See if you can get the industrial grade kind, one brand is Rootx, you should use two pounds at a time. It works better if there is a cleanout you can introduce it into rather than flushing it down a toilet.

Not fun but you may get by for awhile putting toilet paper in a trash bag rather than flushing even that down the toilet.

They were able to clean the roots except for one part where he said the machine kept going through the open part of the pipe and not clearing the roots on the rest of the four inch pipe. Sounds like the path of least resistance. We don't have an outside access. There is a sewer line in the crawl space. I don't know if we can access it though. Toilet paper in a bag might be a good idea!!!!!

 

[disneymomjcs]

I second this. Also, make sure you are not using Charmin Ultra Strong toilet tissue. That stuff always clogs our pipes. It took us 3 times in a year of calling out Roto Rooter to realize that it was the Charmin Ultra Strong TP that was clogging our pipes. It is just too thick for our pipes to handle.

I am going to have to keep an eye on what I'm using as we use Charmin, Angel soft and others. I will need to watch for the ply and the ultrastrong

 

[disneymomjcs]

We had to replace our sewer line this year. All I can say is shop around...but also check references. We had a little more time than you so we were able to play hardball until someone gave us a price we felt was "reasonable" If you can call $7,800 reasonable. But at first it was over 10. So I was happy with it in the end. We didn't have issues with a tree, but we did have a leaking pipe into our yard. Our home was built in 1910....the sewer line was beyond old and the cast iron pipe rotted leaving a nice big hole in the middle. We ended up having to replace the entire line from the house to the street. That meant concrete work, which was our largest part of the expense.
I am sorry you are going through all this. I feel for you. Hope things get better for you soon.

We are going to price out and see if we can hobble along for a little while. I will check those references. The big expense is digging up the street and filling with stone and resurfing.... I can't belive how expensive this is all is going to be even at the "bargain price" I could do alot with that money ....we'll if I had it....

 

[ptcruisermom]

I second the toilet paper. We only use 1 ply in this house. We had to have 6ft of our pipe replaced because of tree roots. It was fine for 12 years then started backing up again. Had roto rotor come out and snake the drain, then one of the guys told me that our natural gas supplier has an insurance prorgam that covers sewer line replacement. It costs me 3.50/mo for the insurance and this would cover a new line plus landscaping. I also am able to call and get the main drain snaked when it starts to clog. I can tell cause the wash water will start to come up the drain. That's my clue that the main has a clog, call and get it snaked free with the insurance and no messy back up. Since we've switched to only using 1 ply tp I've went over a year without a snake. But I do have large trees in my front yard that shade my house and I don't want to cut them down. Eventually the line will need replaced and I'll use the insurance. Oh they won't replace the line until it backs up 3 or 4 times in 1 year, that's what the guy told me. Anywho something else for you to check out. Good luck, it's the pits I know :-(

Our gas company also has this and for water line too. I had been pondering the water line for a few months, and the sewer too-sort of. Well after reading the cost of the repairs I went ahead and signed up for both sewer and water line, for 8.00 a month for both, to me it is worth it, rather then coming up with such a big chunk. My home is older and it is only my income. This thread really got me moving on it.

 

[disneymomjcs]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to update everyone. Our sewer has been fine since the cleanout. We used a chemical to kill the roots. Funny because we don't have any trees out front and took down the tree on our property 14 years ago. Still watching not to shower, wash clothes and run dishwasher at the same time. Less tp too

 

[Karenj2]

I am going to have to keep an eye on what I'm using as we use Charmin, Angel soft and others. I will need to watch for the ply and the ultrastrong

Look for the kind of TP that's good in septic systems - some brands will say that they're good for septic on the packaging... Personally, I use Scott (I'm brand loyal since they used to be a local company.)

Glad to hear that things seem to be going well! I wish you luck for everything else, too! (From a former Delaware County native)